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SBI's late $ buying helps rupee to trim early losses; Rs 42.57/58

The Indian rupee recovered by one paise against the greenback in an extremely quiet interbank foreign exchange market today.

The forex market witnessed limited activity throughout the day in the absence of sufficient staff due to nationwide strike called by trade unions to protest against government's free economic policies.

The rupee opened slightly lower at Rs 42.59/60 and hovered in a narrow range of Rs 42.5850/5950 till noon. Just before the close, State Bank of India sold some dollars, allowing the rupee to close higher by one paise at Rs 42.57/58 against the previous close of Rs 42.58/59, a leading forex dealer said.

The cash/spot was traded in the region of 1.25 to 1.75 paise. The six-month annualised premia was quoted at 7.61 per cent and annual premia was quoted at 8.31 per cent. Nominal merchant booking was witnessed so far.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 42.59 against Rs 42.58 of the previous day.

The monthly premium in paise closed at December 7-8, January 27-28, February 51-52, March 81-82, April 113-115, May 140-146, June 174-176, July 207-210, August 241-245, September 275-279 and October 308-312 paise premium.

In the cross-currency trading, the rupee closed lower against the pound sterling, deutsche mark at Rs 71.06 and Rs 25.75 against the previous close of Rs 70.76 and Rs 25.63 respectively while the Indian unit closed marginally higher against Japanese yen at Rs 36.20 as compared to the previous close of Rs 36.23.

In the overseas market, the US dollar was nearly steady against the pound sterling, deutsche mark and Japanese yen.

UNI

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